What I watched: An episode of the early children’s show Kukla, Fran and Ollie. The series starred the titular Fran Allison, with all other roles being played by series creator and puppeteer Burr Tilstrom. “Oliver Dragon, Interior Decorator” was directed by Lewis Gomavitz aired on Thursday, November 2, 1950 at 7:00 PM on NBC. Video is available on the official KFO YouTube channel.
What happened: The show opens with a conversation between the show’s least comprehensible characters, Cecil Bill and Dolores. In the grand cartoon tradition, they naturally understand each other perfectly. Bill leaves, and Kukla comes up to ask what she’s doing. Kukla calls Fran in to hear what she has to say. Apparently she’s been learning “toolie talk” from Cecil. Kukla is jealous of her for being able to learn the language as a child.
Ollie pops in and pays tribute to director Lewis Gomavitz, or “Gommy”, who just turned 23. It was a lot easier to get into TV back in the day. On the topic of learning foreign languages, Ollie reveals that he sometimes thinks in “dragon language.” Um, according to my D&D books, it’s called Draconic.
They get on the subject of decorating the house. Fran and Ollie say they like to decorate their own houses, but Ollie objects, saying that they’re costing professional interior decorators their jobs. Ollie decides to take on this role, telling Kukla and Fran to take on the made-up roles of “Edgar” and “Lucille.” Ollie will be both husband George and the decorator.
The story begins at breakfast time, with “Edgar” and “George” getting upset at things not being ready. Husband and wife bicker about their annoying relatives. The subject of complaint turns towards all the furniture and appliances that need to be replaced. Edgar and Lucille browbeat George into asking for a raise. When George gets dispirited, Lucille sings a song about how much she loves him. This cheers up George enough to agree to hiring an interior decorator.
Fletcher Rabbit appears as the mailman, delivering an already-opened package of Kukla and Ollie ice cream spoons. This leads into the typical Sealtest plug. When we get back to the story, Fran has adopted a smart hat, while Kukla has made his voice even more shrill. Edgar and Lucille visit Mr. Dragon the decorator.
Mr. Dragon instructs Lucille to throw out her favourite picture, a statue they got for their wedding, and even the curtains of the stage. He brings out some fancy rugs to show them. Lucille blanches at the price of the redecoration, but decides that they can raise money by going back to their old standard of selling lemonade musically.
What I thought: This episode really highlights the diversity of Kukla, Fran, and Ollie. We open with a little bit of old-fashioned silent comedy razmatazz between Dolores and Cecil Bill, followed by a fairly lucid conversation about the value of learning a second language. We then get into the meat of the episode, which is a combination of domestic drama and a satire of consumer culture. All of this with musical numbers and ad breaks too.
The conversation about learning “toolie talk” and “dragon language” particularly hit home for me. As someone who has been hacking through learning basic Japanese off and on for my adult life, and occasionally adding Russian or Spanish to the rotation, I often wish I had picked up a second or third language when I was young. (Although childhood French classes didn’t make me fluent.) The same applies to physical sports or visual art or any number of things I brushed off as a kid when my neuroplasticity and time to study was at a lifetime high. I assume that this segment of KFO was born out of a similar adult thought or conversation, with perhaps sending a message to kids to take advantage of their growing brains while they have them.
The little two-act play with Ollie as an interior decorator was also pretty interesting. We get a little domestic drama that paints household life as a bit of a nightmare. Husband and wife hate each others’ families, and the baby is a screeching goblin in the way only Kukla can be. It’s not exactly The Glass Menagerie, but it’s a lot darker than it probably needed to be.
The actual appearance of the decorator is a nice bit of satire that harkens back to “Lemonade”, one of the series’ best episodes. Both episodes draw on the way that things which were once a simple domestic duty have become professionalized industries, with personal taste being drowned out by collective fashion and commercial appeal. It does feel like they didn’t leave themselves enough time to fully explore the premise, but overall it’s a very fun bit of comedy.
Coming up next: The Lone Ranger investigates some funny money.
The Eternal Couch Potato 